Rain rescues Capital from heat, power cuts

Even though the Naptha Jakhri Power Plant in Himachal Pradesh remained shut for the third consecutive day on Friday reducing supply to Delhi by 300 Mw, the city could hardly felt the pinch. Weather gods continued with the pre-monsoon showers and kept the peak demand at a comfortable 3,507 Mw.

“This unavailability would have hurt us badly but for the weather, which has been saving us all along this year. The lack of supply from Damodar Valley Corporation in West Bengal, too, did not bother us. In fact on Thursday there was a shortfall of just 130 Mw,” said a senior Power department official.

The daylong rain and squall caused tripping of power lines in Vikaspuri and Janakpuri causing power cuts for a few hours in the afternoon. Slight overloading of the grid caused some outages in the afternoon from 12.30 pm to 2 pm across the Capital. Distcom officials said the lines were restored by afternoon.

But residents were hardly bothered. “It did not matter that there was no power because fans and coolers were already switched off thanks to the pleasant weather,” said Arti Rastogi, a resident of B-E, Janakpuri.

In fact, there might not be any power crisis at all in the remaining days of summer, as the Met department has predicted the early onset of monsoon in the Capital. “In a few days, monsoon will set in, so that will make this season historical in terms of the power situation in Delhi. We probably had the lowest number of power cuts ever during summer months in Delhi,” said the official.